N. Korea seeks sanctions relief, U.S. says regime must abandon nuclear, missile programs

North Korea and the United States have been going toe-to-toe over the issue of sanctions at the UN's HQ in Geneva.The North insists there's no justification for the sanctions remaining in place.Lee Seung-jae reports. At a UN disarmament conference in Geneva on Tuesday,... the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance said the only way for North Korea to achieve security and development is to abandon all of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.She also urged countries to halt any weapons or military cooperation with the regime. "Our stance is unwavering with regards to North Korea. North Korea must understand that the only way to achieve the security and development that it seeks, is to abandon all of its weapons of mass destruction, all of its ballistic missile programs as numerous U.N. (United Nations) Security Council resolutions demand. As numerous U.N. Security Council Resolutions demand." In response,... North Korea said there were no legitimate reasons to maintain sanctions on the regime,... since it has not conducted any weapons tests for well over a year. "The U.S. publicly recognised the DPRK had discontinued nuclear tests and rocket launch for the past 15 months. However, it does nothing to remove U.S. sanctions as corresponding measures. Instead, they came up with a preposterous argument that sanction relief is impossible prior to denuclearisation. We found that U.S. calculation quite odd and such gangster-like position doubtlessly will drive the situation in danger." He added the U.S. had promised to take corresponding measures during their first summit in Singapore. Instead, according to Ju,... President Trump came up with, what he called a "preposterous argument" that sanctions relief is impossible prior to denuclearization.Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.